No need to panic, thought Zoe, no need to panic. This wasn't a one wish and everything's gone sort of thing. She still had the stone. She could wish herself out of this problem.
"I wish I didn't have bat wings."
Nothing happened.
She grabbed the note again and read it over and over again and realized what had gone wrong. She couldn't reverse the wishes! But she could reinterpret them.
"I wish that the reason I had bat wings is that I'm a vampire who has a soul and can drink blood but doesn't need to and that I have bat wings because I can change to a bat and back to human and I'm halfway through the change."
Zoe felt the stone grow warm and felt the sensation of having to look away from something. Then her transformation continued, and she shrunk as her clothes fell onto the floor. She was flying! She realized she was flapping leathery wings, but it no longer seemed as awkward as it did when she was human. She could still see, despite what everyone thought about bats, but the colors looked a little strange, and it was as if every time she made a sound she could tell exactly where she was.
She flew right out the open window and decided to take a trip around the neighborhood. There down the street was that girl Karyn from a year ahead of her. Her skin looked nice and warm and Zoe could hardly resist landing on her neck to see what it was like for a vampire to taste blood.
Karyn saw the flying mammal and shooed it away. This wouldn't do... Zoe transformed back to normal. It was much faster than the previous transformation . Karyn gaped as suddenly a pale naked teenager was draped over her and Zoe sunk her fangs into Karyn's neck.
It tasted good. It tasted so good that after two sips, Zoe had to pull away. She didn't want to hurt or kill Karyn, after all. She really shouldn't have even taken blood against her will, though it didn't seem to have caused much damage.
"Karyn" she said.
"Yes? You're Zoe, right?"
"Yes, I'm Zoe. I want you to do exactly what I say."
"I... I don't understand, but with you looking at me like that I feel I have to."
"Go on with what you're doing, and forget what happened here."
"Forget..." said Karyn and walked away.
Zoe flew around some more, but didn't dare try to drink any more blood, and eventually came home. She transformed back and landed in her bed. How did the joke go? 'I just flew in and boy are my arms tired.' She certainly was pretty tired, but when she closed her eyes she felt uneasy. Somehow she couldn't get to sleep.
Then Zoe laughed and realized what was wrong. She left the house to grab a few bits of dirt, then came back in, careful not to wake anyone, and lifted her mattress. It didn't seem heavy at all now that she had the strength of a vampire. She sprinkled the dirt under the mattress, lay down on top, and in no time was fast asleep.
The next morning when her alarm clock rang she got up, dressed, showered, put on her clothes and dark makeup, and looked at herself in the mirror. Then grumbled, because she realized that from now on unless she found a video camera somewhere putting on makeup would be much harder. At least she didn't need to pretend to look pale any more.
She ate her breakfast, went back to her room to grab the stone and her books, and left for school. The sun was beginning to come up, and Zoe began to wonder if it was safe. But she remembered that in the original Dracula novel, Dracula could go out in the daylight without getting hurt; it would just reduce his powers because it wasn't his natural habitat.
Zoe reached out with her hand into a sunlit spot on the side of the house. Whew. Her hand didn't feel painful at all, and it certainly wasn't catching on fire or turning into dust.
She ran to school and made it on time. Things were looking good, and even if being a vampire caused her problems she did still have the rock....
